Tribology Aspects
in Angular
Transmission Systems
Part III:
Zerol Bevel Gears
Dr. Hermann Stadtfeld
(This article is part three of an eight-part series on the tribology aspects of angular gear drives. Each article will be present-
ed first and exclusively by Gear Technology, but the entire series will be included in Dr. Stadtfeld’s upcoming book on the
subject, which is scheduled for release in 2011.)
Dr. Hermann Stadtfeld received a bachelor’s degree in
1978 and in 1982 a master’s degree in mechanical engineer-
ing at the Technical University in Aachen, Germany. He then
worked as a scientist at the Machine Tool Laboratory of the
Technical University of Aachen. In 1987, he received his
Ph.D. and accepted the position as head of engineering and
R&D of the Bevel Gear Machine Tool Division of Oerlikon
Buehrle AG in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1992, Dr. Stadtfeld
accepted a position as visiting professor at the Rochester
Institute of Technology. From 1994 until 2002, he worked
for The Gleason Works in Rochester, New York—first as
director of R&D and then as vice president of R&D. After
an absence from Gleason between 2002 to 2005, when Dr.
Stadtfeld established a gear research company in Germany
and taught gear technology as a professor at the University
of Ilmenau, he returned to the Gleason Corporation, where
he holds today the position of vice president-bevel gear tech-
nology and R&D. Dr. Stadtfeld has published more than 200
technical papers and eight books on bevel gear technology.
He holds more than 40 international patents on gear design
and gear process, as well as tools and machines.
42 GEARTECHNOLOGY November/December 2010 www.geartechnology.com
Design
If two axes are positioned in space and the
task is to transmit motion and torque between
them using some kind of gears, then the fol-
lowing cases are commonly known:
• Axes are parallel → cylindrical gears
(line contact)
• Axes intersect under an angle → bevel
gears (line contact)
• Axis cross under an angle → crossed
helical gears (point contact)
• Axes cross under an angle (mostly 90°)
→ worm gear drives (line contact)
• Axes cross under any angle → hypoid
gears (line contact)
Zerol bevel gears are the special case of
spiral bevel gears with a spiral angle of 0°.
They are manufactured in a single-indexing
face milling process with large cutter diam-
eters, an extra deep tooth profile and tapered
tooth depth. The axis of Zerol bevel gears
in most cases intersect under an angle of
90°. This so-called shaft angle can be larg-
er or smaller than 90°; however, the axes
always intersect, which means they have, at
their crossing point, no offset between them
(Author’s note: see also previous chapter,
“General Explanation of Theoretical Bevel
Gear Analysis” on hypoid gears). The pitch
Figure 1—Zerol bevel gear geometry.

surfaces are cones, which are calculated with ate the desired crowning (see also “General
the following formula: Explanation of Theoretical Bevel Gear
Analysis”).
z1/z2 = sing1/sing2 Figure 1 shows an illustration of a Zerol
∑ = g1+ g2 bevel gear set and a cross-sectional drawing.
in case of:∑ = 90°→g1 = arctan (z1/z2) Per definition, Zerol gears are manufactured in
→g2 = 90°–g1 a single-indexing process, applying a standard
tooth taper, as shown in Figure 1. However,
where: it is also possible to apply the face hobbing
process with parallel-depth teeth in order
z1 Number of pinion teeth to manufacture bevel gears with zero spiral
z2 Number of gear teeth angle. Those gears are not considered true
g1 Pinion pitch angle Zerol gears, however, because the slot width
∑ Shaft angle taper—due to face hobbing—causes a cross-
g2 Gear pitch angle over and fins at the root bottom that are often
not acceptable as a production result because
The advantage of Zerol bevel gears is the of top interference with the opposite member
low axial forces—like straight bevel gears— and increased root bending stress.
but their manufacturing process with complet- Analysis
ing face mill cutters is significantly faster, Since the mentioned distortions in tapered-
and grinding as a hard-finishing process with depth tooth systems are detected through com-
dressable grinding wheels leads to highly pre- parison to conjugate mating flanks, it is possi-
cise gear sets that are often used in aircraft ble to define potential contact lines that would
applications. apply in case of no distortions and conjugate
Zerol bevel gear teeth follow in the face flank surfaces. In order to allow deflections
width direction a curve on the conical gear of tooth surfaces, shafts, bearings and gearbox
and pinion body that lies tangential to a cone housing without unwanted edge contact, a
element (zero spiral angle). The tooth lead crowning in face width and profile direction
function in the face width direction, if unrolled is applied. A theoretical tooth contact analysis
into a plane, is a circle. The tooth profile is an (TCA) previous to the gear manufacturing can
octoid. The tooth form with an octoid func- be performed in order to observe the effect
tion will be associated with an initial “natu- of the crowning in connection with the basic
ral” profile crowning and, depending on the characteristics of the particular gear set. This
machining setup, some flank twist. Both also affords the possibility of returning to the
effects are utilized together with certain cor- basic dimensions in order to optimize them
rective machine settings in order to gener- continued

www.geartechnology.com November/December 2010 GEARTECHNOLOGY 43

Figure 2—Tooth contact analysis of a Zerol bevel gear set.

Figure 3—Contact line scan of a Zerol bevel gear set.

Figure 4—Rolling and sliding velocities of a Zerol bevel gear set along the path of contact.

44 GEARTECHNOLOGY November/December 2010 www.geartechnology.com

if the analysis results show any deficiencies.
Figure 2 shows the result of a TCA of a typical
Zerol bevel gear set.
The two columns in Figure 2 represent the
analysis results of the two mating flank com-
binations (see also “General Explanation of
Theoretical Bevel Gear Analysis”). The top
graphics show the ease-off topographies. The
surface above the presentation grid shows the
consolidation of the pinion and gear crowning.
The ease-offs in Figure 2 have a combination
of length and profile crowning, such that a
clearance along the boundary of the teeth is
established.
Below each ease-off, the motion transmis-
sion graphs of the particular mating flank pair
are shown. The motion transmission graphs
show the angular variation of the driven gear
in the case of a pinion that rotates with a con-
stant angular velocity. The graphs are drawn
for the rotation and mesh of three consecutive
pairs of teeth. While the ease-off requires a
sufficient amount of crowning in order to pre-
vent edge contact and allow for load-affected
deflections, the crowning in turn causes pro-
portional amounts of angular motion variation
of about 50 micro radians in this example.
At the bottom of Figure 2, the tooth con-
tact pattern is plotted inside of the gear tooth
projection. These contact patterns are calcu-
lated for zero load, and a virtual marking com-
pound film of 6 µm thickness. This basically
duplicates the tooth contact one could observe
by rolling the real version of the analyzed
gear set under light load on a roll tester, while
the gear member is coated with a marking-
compound-layer of about 6 µm thickness. The
contact lines are oriented in the face width
direction, depending basically on the 0° spiral
angle. The path of contact connects the begin-
ning and end of meshing, and its orientation is
nearly perpendicular to the contact lines.
The crowning reflected in the ease-off
results in a contact zone located inside of
the boundaries of the gear tooth. A smaller
tooth contact area generally results from large
magnitudes in the ease-off and in the motion
graph, and vice versa.
Figure 3 shows 10 discrete, potential
contact lines with their individual crowning
amounts along their length (contact line scan).
The gap geometry in contact line direction can
be influenced by a change in ease-off topog-
raphy and optimized regarding the gap kine-
matic cases (see also “General Explanation
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of Theoretical Bevel Gear Analysis,” Fig. 8).
The gap geometry perpendicular to the con-
tact line direction (not exactly the same as the
path-of-contact direction) does not signifi-
cantly depend on the ease-off topography, but
is mainly dominated by the geometry of the
mating tooth profiles.
Figure  4 shows the sliding and rolling
velocity vectors of a typical Zerol gear set for
each path of contact point for the 10 discussed
roll positions. Each vector is projected to the
tangential plane at the point-of-origin of the
vector. The velocity vectors are drawn inside
the gear-tooth-projection plane. The points-
of-origin of both rolling- and sliding-velocity
vectors are grouped along the path of con-
tact, which is found as the connection of the
minima of the individual lines in the contact-
line-scan graphic (Fig.4). The velocity vectors
can be separated in a component in contact-
line direction and a component perpendicular
to that—in order to investigate the hydrody-
namic lubrication properties—by utilizing the
information from the contact line-scan (cur-
vature and curvature change) and the tooth
surface curvatures perpendicular to the contact
line direction (see also “General Explanation
of Theoretical Bevel Gear Analysis,” Fig. 8,
cases 1–6).
In the example of the discussed Zerol bevel
gear set, the sliding-velocity vectors are basi-
cally profile-oriented. In the top area, the slid-
ing vectors point to the root. Moving along the
path of contact from top to bottom, the sliding-
velocity reduces its magnitude while attaining
a magnitude of zero at the pitch line. Below
the pitch line, the sliding-velocity develops,
growing positive magnitudes (towards the root
of the gear tooth). The maximal magnitude
of the sliding-velocities (top-versus-root) is a
result of the distance from the pitch line. In the
present case, the distance between the lowest
active flank line to the pitch line is larger than
the distance from the pitch line to the top. The
rolling-velocity vectors point to the root and
have basically all the same orientation. The
orientation is a result of the spiral angle (zero
spiral angle delivers profile-oriented rolling).
The shrinking magnitude of the rolling-veloc-
ity (moving from top to bottom) is caused by
the decreasing circumferential speed towards
the outer diameter.
The freedoms for optimizing the lubrication
gap geometry and kinematics in Zerol bevel
continued
November/December 2010 GEARTECHNOLOGY 45

Depth Gain
Figure 5—Face milling process and tapered tooth depth.
Figure 6—Zerol bevel gear cutting.
gears are limited to the relocation of the pitch
line and a change in crowning in length direc-
tion.
Manufacturing
Zerol bevel gears are manufactured in a
single-indexing face milling process. In the
face milling process, the blades are orient-
ed around a circle and pass through one slot
(while they plunge or generate the flanks of
that particular slot), as illustrated in Figure 5.
The work is not performing any indexing rota-
tion. At the blade tip and in equidistant planes
(normal to the cutter head axis), the slot width
produced has a constant width between toe
and heel. In order to achieve a proportionally
changing slot width (and tooth thickness), the
46 GEARTECHNOLOGY November/December 2010 www.geartechnology.com
Tapered
Tooth Depth
Pitch Line
Depth Loss
root line of face milled bevel gears is inclined
versus the pitch line (Fig. 5, right). This modi-
fication has to be implemented in both mem-
bers, which is why the face angle requires the
same modification as the root angle of the mat-
ing member.
Figure 6 is a photo of the view into the
work chamber of a free-form bevel and hypoid
gear cutting machine during the high-speed
dry-cutting of a Zerol bevel gear. The face cut-
ter head has coated carbide stick blades that
are arranged in blade groups of one inside and
one outside blade oriented around a circle.
Hard-finishing after heat treatment, if
required by the particular application, is gen-
erally done by grinding. The grinding wheel
resembles the cutter-head geometry, while the
grinding machine uses the same set-up geom-
etry and kinematics as the cutting machine for
the previous soft machining.
Application
Most Zerol bevel gears to be used in power
transmissions are manufactured by carburiz-
ing steel and undergo a case-hardening to a
surface hardness of 60 Rockwell C (HRC)
and a core hardness of 36 HRC. Because of
the higher pinion revolutions, it is advisable to
give the pinion a higher hardness than the ring
gear (e.g., pinion 62 HRC, gear 59 HRC).
Regarding surface durability, Zerol bevel
gears are very similar to straight bevel gears.
At the pitch line, the sliding-velocity is zero,
and the rolling-velocity under certain loads
cannot maintain a surface-separating lubrica-
tion film. This might in certain cases of high
load or speed result in pitting along the pitch
line that can destroy the tooth surfaces and
even result in tooth flank fracture. However,
it is possible that the pitting can be stabilized
if the damage-causing condition is not often
represented in the duty cycle. Figure 7 is a
photograph of typical pitch line pitting on a
Zerol bevel ring gear flank surface.
Zerol bevel gears have axial forces that
can be calculated by applying a normal force
vector at the position of the mean point at each
member (see also “General Explanation of
Theoretical Bevel Gear Analysis”). The force Figure 7—Pitch line pitting on a Zerol bevel gear surface.
vector normal to the transmitting flank is sepa-
rated in its X, Y and Z component (Fig. 8).
The relationship in Figure 8 leads to the
following formulas, which can be used to cal-
culate bearing force components in a Cartesian
coordinate system and assign them to the bear-
ing load calculation in a CAD system:

Fx = –T / (Am • sing)
Fy = –T • (cosg • sina /
(Am • sing • cosa)
Fz = T • ( sing • sina) /
(Am • sing • cosa)
where:

T torque of observed member

Am mean cone distance
g pitch angle
a pressure angle
Fx, Fy,Fz bearing load force components

The bearing force calculation formulas are

based on the assumption that one pair of teeth
transmits the torque with one normal force
vector in the mean point of the flank pair. The
results are good approximations that reflect
the real bearing loads for multiple-tooth mesh-
ing within an acceptable tolerance. A precise
calculation is for example possible with the
Gleason bevel and hypoid gear software.
Zerol bevel gears have lesser axial forces
than spiral bevel gears. The axial-force com-
ponent due to the spiral angle is zero. Zero
spiral angle minimizes the face contact ratio
to zero but results in the maximal tooth root
thickness.
As a rule, bevel gears that are not ground
or lapped after heat treatment show the high-
est root strength with the lowest spiral angles.
This explains why in those cases Zerol and
straight bevel gears are still the bevel gears of
choice.
Zerol bevel gears can operate with regular
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Figure 8—Force diagram for calculation of bearing loads.
transmission oil or, in the case of low RPMs, with a
grease filling. With circumferential speeds above 10
m/min., a sump lubrication with regular transmission
oil is recommended. The oil level has to cover the face
width of the teeth that are the lowest in the sump. More
oil causes foaming, cavitations and unnecessary energy
loss. There is no requirement for any lubrication addi-
tives. The preferred operating direction of Zerol bevel
gears is the drive side, where the convex gear flank and
the concave pinion flank mesh together. In the drive
direction (Fig. 8), the forces between the two mating
members bend the pinion sideways and axially away
from the gear, generating the most backlash. Coast-
side operation reduces the backlash in extreme cases
to zero, which interrupts any lubricant flank separation
and leads to immediate surface damage—which is
often followed by tooth fracture.
Next issue: Spiral Bevel Gears.
November/December 2010 GEARTECHNOLOGY 47